Anatoly Chernyaev, Russian historian and writer, Died at 95

Anatoly Sergeevich Chernyaev was born on May 26, 1921, in Moscow and died on March 13, 2017, in Moscow.

He was a Russian historian and writer.

Anatoly Chernyaev was a principal foreign-policy advisor to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev during the final days of the Soviet Union.

When fighting in World War II, he studied history at Moscow State University, where he would teach contemporary history from 1950 to 1958.

Chernyaev then joined the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1961, where he became a senior analyst.

Chernyaev became General Secretary Gorbachev’s foreign policy advisor in 1986 and continued to advise Gorbachev when the latter became President of the Soviet Union.

During 2004, he donated his diaries from the Gorbachev period to the National Security Archive at George Washington University, which has published portions of them in English translation; according to the editor, “One can confidently say that every bold foreign policy initiative advanced by Gorbachev in the years 1986-1991 bears Chernyaev’s mark on it.”

From there, the National Security Archive has made available Chernyaev’s diaries for the years 1972 and 1973.

His Diaries from 1974 to 1985 will also be made available in due course.